UK-based luxury footwear and accessory brand Jimmy Choo will open its second freestanding Toronto location next year. The store will join a number of top brands on Yorkville Avenue, which is rapidly becoming one of Canada’s top luxury retail destinations.
Jimmy Choo’s first Toronto store, which is also Canada’s only freestanding location, opened in August of 2014 at the luxury-heavy Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The 2,250 one-level store is in the heart of the mall’s Holt Renfrew-anchored ‘luxury wing’, between Tiffany & Co. and Moncler.
In late 2018, Jimmy Choo’s second Toronto store will open at 102 Yorkville Avenue, in a newly constructed commercial building by First Capital Realty. The two-level Jimmy Choo will be about 2,400 square feet in size, and will be next to a new 8,700 square foot Chanel flagship that will open in a few months.
Stan Vyriotes and David Wedemire of DWSV Remax Ultimate Realty Inc. acted on behalf of retailer Jimmy Choo in the deal with landlord First Capital Realty.
First Capital Realty owns several properties along Yorkville Avenue, and it plans to redevelop some of them for new retail spaces over the next several years. Demolition of the buildings at 102-108 Yorkville Avenue is expected to commence this spring. These will be replaced with a commercial building that will include three street-facing retail units, and Jimmy Choo will occupy the eastern-most space of the three, closest to Chanel.
First Capital Realty owns other commercial buildings on the street and, most recently, it acquired a 50% stake in 101 Yorkville Avenue, which it will eventually demolish to construct a 35,000 square foot building for multiple luxury retail tenants. First Capital Realty continues to acquire sites in the area, complementing its Yorkville Village shopping centre complex, formerly called Hazelton Lanes. The landlord is leasing retail space both on urban storefronts as well as within the enclosed shopping centre, which is seeing ongoing renovations costing well in excess of $100 million.
Yorkville Avenue is becoming a luxury shopping destination, with a number of brands opening stores in the area. Luxury footwear and accessories brand Christian Louboutin opened its two-level Canadian flagship at 99 Yorkville Avenue over the summer, in a building directly across the street from the new Chanel and Jimmy Choo. Chanel will open its flagship at 100 Yorkville Avenue sometime this summer, in a deal that was also coordinated by Mr. Vyriotes and Mr. Wedermire. Luxury streetwear brand Off-White ‘softly opened’ its 83 Yorkville location in December of 2016, though the store has yet to officially announce its opening. Luxury timepiece brand Richard Mille (a boutique licensed by Louis-Black) is expected to open at the base of the Hazelton Hotel sometime next week, joining prestigious names such as Kiton (at V Hazelton) and Carrera y Carrera, located nearby.
Jimmy Choo, which was co-founded by designers Tamara Mellon and Jimmy Choo in 1996, has stores globally, including 33 in the United States. In Canada, the brand can also be found in selected retailers such as Holt Renfrew, Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom.
